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Hackers chop down UN eco-agency, release rare data into wild

Admin logins among files dumped after raid

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Hacktivists claim to have raided the website of the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) and extracted sensitive internal information.

The group, r00tw0rm, dumped an 82MB database file on Pastebin, which appears to contain hundreds of tables with administrator login details and user data. r00tw0rm has been busy over recent weeks with attacks against NASA and other organisations. The motive of the latest attack seems to be an attempt to mock the poor security of high-profile websites rather than anything overly political.

The UNEP website was taken down and restored to normal by Tuesday lunchtime, less than 48 hours after the purported attack. The agency is the UN body responsible for co-ordinating environmental efforts and encouraging sustainable development among other functions.

It's not the first time hackers have turned their attention towards a UN agency. Last November hacktivist group TeaMp0isoN ran a similar attack against the website of the United Nations Development Programme. ®